Supporters of ‘dark money’ spending abandon ‘conservative’ principles

Proposition 211 or the “Voters’ Right to Know Act” received 72% of the vote in Arizona, making it the most popular statewide proposition on the Arizona ballot last November. However, The Center for Arizona Policy and the Free Enterprise Club having failed to beat us at the polls, have filed lawsuits against Prop 211.

Proposition 211 or the “Voters’ Right to Know Act” received 72% of the vote in Arizona, making it the most popular statewide proposition on the Arizona ballot last November. Prop 211 passed in all 15 Arizona counties and enjoyed support from Arizonans across the political spectrum.

As a Republican former Arizona governor, a Democratic former Arizona attorney general, and an independent Arizona businessman, we were proud to represent the broad political spectrum to stop anonymous political spending in our state. We advocated for requiring any group spending more than $50,000 on statewide campaign media advertising or $25,000 on local campaign ads to disclose the names of the original contributors who provided the money for the ads. The voters of all political views overwhelmingly agreed.

But our opponents aren’t giving up. The Center for Arizona Policy and the Free Enterprise Club having failed to beat us at the polls, have filed lawsuits against Prop 211. Coincidentally, these special interest groups have been funded by “Dark Money,” which raises the question, are these groups really interested in infringement of “free speech” or is their opposition driven by self-interest?

Terry Goddard

Motives matter in evaluating a message, that is why following the money matters. Knowing who is paying for a message allows us to make an impartial determination of whether or not the message is credible.

Following the money also exposes hypocrisy. The Center for Arizona Policy and the Free Enterprise Club claim to be conservative. But in arguing that major political donors should be kept secret, they abandon their conservative principles. The late Supreme Court Justice Antonia Scalia, a Reagan appointee and the foremost conservative thinker of our time, would have disagreed strongly with their position. Scalia was an outspoken critic of “Dark Money” political spending.

In 2012 Justice Scalia told Piers Morgan on CNN, “You can’t separate the speech from the money that facilities the speech.” In a 2010 US Supreme Court opinion regarding the disclosure of campaign petition signatures Scalia wrote, “Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed. For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously . . . hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism. This does not resemble the Home of the Brave.”

Fife Symington

In his respect for full disclosure of political contributions, Justice Scalia was in concert with Justice Anthony Kennedy who wrote in the Citizens United decision that: “…disclosure could be justified based on a governmental interest in ‘providing the electorate with information’ about the sources of election-related spending on the ground that they would help citizens… make informed choices in the political marketplace.”

These statements by some of the most “conservative” Supreme Court justices put into focus the hypocrisy of allegedly conservative organizations trying to frustrate the people’s right to know. Disclosing the source for advertising expressing political views is a fundamentally conservative view. But the opponents of disclosure in Arizona have abandoned their conservative principles to protect their dark money gravy train.

David Tedesco

In spite of the many efforts to derail it, Proposition 211 enjoys overwhelming support from Arizonans from all walks of life and from all political viewpoints. Disclosure, as the “conservative” Supreme Court has said so often, is sound public policy designed to keep voters informed and elections fair and honest. What could be more “conservative?”

Terry Goddard is a former Arizona attorney general; Fife Symington is a Republican and former governor and David Tedesco is an independent businessman.